Rabanastre
You’ll be back in the Estersands after defeating the Mimic Queen, so now it’s time to head south back to Rabanastre. Once you enter the city, you’ll trigger a scene, and the party will split up, leaving you only in control of Vaan for the next section.
Speak to the Moogle near the Save Crystal to learn about Teleporting between Crystals, this will come in handy throughout the game. We need to go see a few people in Rabanastre before we continue with the story, so lets get to it.
Head over to the Muthru Bazaar area and speak to the man named Gatsly, he will be north of where you find the Clan Provisioner. Speak to the Clan Provisioner next and sell all the Materials, except your Teleport Stones, that you’ve gathered. If you unlock anything at the Bazaar be sure to pick it up. Next up is the Clan Hall, return there and speak to Montblanc to claim a bunch of rewards for our progress so far. Ask Montblanc about hunts to unlock the Cluckatrice and Rocktoise hunts. Accept them both before leaving. The Rocktoise is available in a future area we’ll be visiting, while the Cluckatrice is technically available to complete now. Unless you are around level 18-20 right now, I wouldn’t waste your time trying to defeat the Cluckatrice until our next visit to Rabanastre. It’s a very tough fight with a Boss that can inflict both Slow and Petrify, neither of which are easy to counter just yet. If you are at least level 20 then once we have a full party again, make sure someone has Remedy Lore 2 so that they can counter the Petrify status.
In the Muthru Bazaar, near the stairs leading to North End, you’ll notice another Viera NPC, she will ask for advice at various parts of the game. Based on what you tell her you will eventually be rewarded an item. The most useful item she offers is a Runeblade. However, everything from her can be obtained elsewhere. If you want the Runeblade then you’ll need to answer her questions with
- Yes, you should be ashamed – This is available after defeating the Queen Mimic
- You should’ve thought it through – Available after the events at Bujherba
- It’ll never happen – After the Tomb of Raithwall
- I think its a good idea – After the events at Mt Bur-Omisace
Answer the questions and then leave Rabanastre and come back in to find she should have moved to the inside of the Clan Hall. Speak to her again to claim the Runeblade.
While we’re in Rabanastre is one of the best times to unlock all of the games Grimoires for purchase as well. The next area has an excellent spot for farming Gil which will allow you to purchase all of these, so it’s worth taking the time to unlock them now. See the table below for how to unlock them all:
Monographs
Monographs are items that can be bought in Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age to improve the drops from certain types of enemies. Each on average will cost about 20,000 Gil, there is a great spot for Gil Farming in the Lhusu Mines that will allow you to purchase them all quite easily.| Monograph: | Cost: | Drop Enhancement: | How to unlock: |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hunter's Monograph | 18,000 | Beasts/Avions | Complete Thextera Hunt. Speak to Gatsly in the Muthru Bazaar. |
| Knight's Monograph | 19,000 | Giants/Insects | Talk to a weapon merchant 30 times. |
| Warmage's Monograph | 20,000 | Amorphous/Undead | Interact with the Hunt Board 20 times. Found in Sandsea Tavern. |
| Mage's Monograph | 21,000 | Fiends | Talk to Magick Shop Merchant 25 times. |
| Scholar's Monograph | 22,000 | Constructs | Talk to Armor Shop Merchant 15 times. |
| Dragoon's Monograph | 22,000 | Dragons/Plants | Interact with the Hunt Board 40 times. Found in Sandsea Tavern. |
| Sage's Monograph | 25,000 | Elementals | Talk to any Merchant 100 times. |
Run around and speak to the Merchants to unlock the above Monographs. They all unlock in the Bazaar section of the shop under the name “Forgotten Grimoire” the only way to tell which one it is, is by looking at the price tag. A brief summary is that you want to interact with the Hunt Bulletin Board 40 times to unlock two Grimoires. Speak to the Weapon Store Merchant 30 times, Magick Store Merchant 25 times, and the Armor Store Merchant until you unlock the final two “Forgotten Grimoires” that should cost 22,000 and 25,000 Gil each. If you don’t have all seven of them waiting to be purchased now, then you’ve missed one. Use the prices to figure out which and go unlock it.
While you’re running around, be sure to pick up the next hunt at the Sandsea Tavern as well. This should be for the Wraith Hunt, we’ll need a full party before doing this one as well since the creature will cast Doom on party members.
Lowtown
Once you’re done, head over to Migelo’s Shop for a scene. Vaan will agree to run an errand for Old Dalan down in Low Town, so head there next. Along the way, speak to the Petitioner for the Wraith Hunt. You’re looking for a woman called Milha, in the northernmost area of Lowtown. Speak to Old Dalan once you’re ready to hear what he wants.
Take the Sword of the Order from Dalan to where the indicator is on the map, the southwest section of the North Sprawl of Lowtown. Speak to the man sitting on the crates to trigger another scene. Afterward, Basch will join the party. Now is a good time to look at his Equipment, License Boards, and Gambits.
To find Balthier and Fran for Basch we need to head back up into Rabanastre and over to the Sandsea Tavern, where you’ll trigger another scene outside, then head into the Tavern and up to the second level for a scene between the whole party.
Balthier will explain to meet outside the Aerodome to continue the story. Make sure you visit the Magick and Gambit stores here, buy up any Magick you are missing and be sure to pick up as many of the Gambits as you can.
Wraith Hunt
Before we make our way to the Aerodome, we can take the time to complete a couple of Hunts. Head down into Lowtown and speak to the Mark Petitioner if you haven’t already done so. Make your way into the Garamsythe Waterway, the Wraith spawns in the area directly ahead.
Boss Battle: Wraith
| Boss: | Wraith |
| HP: | 5,146 |
| Elemental Weakness: | Lightning |
| Status Effect Weakness: | Stop, Confuse, Reverse, Blind, Silence, Oil, Disable, Immobilize, Sap, Slow, Berserk |
| Resistances: | Ice (Absorbs) |
| Steal: | Glass Jewel Dark Magicite Hi-Potion |
Wraith will start the fight by casting doom on your party members, I highly recommend that once a member reaches about 7 or so on the countdown that you switch them for your reserve member. Once another member reaches 3 or 4, switch them with the one that was at 7. This will stagger your Doom countdowns and allow you to use Phoenix Downs on any party members that fall, instead of seeing your entire party wipe at the same time. Use items to cure Sleep or Blind status if it inflicts them, but otherwise, just keep up the damage and it will eventually fall.
Return to the Mark Petitioner, Milha, to receive your reward of 500 Gil, an Ether, and a pair of Gauntlets.
Cluckatrice Hunt
The next Mark is the Cluckatrice, this Mark is extremely powerful for this point in the game so taking it on now is optional. You can always come back later with better gear and higher levels. To accept the Hunt you’ll need to visit the Nomad Village on the Giza Plains, speak to the Petitioner, Dania, inside the cluckatrice pen.
To stand a chance at this you’ll likely need to be level 15-20+ and have at least one character with Remedy Lore 2 unlocked on their License Board. This will allow you to use Remedy’s to heal the Petrify status that the Cluckatrice will inflict. To find the Cluckatrice you’ll need to take the east exit from the Village to the Gizas North Bank area. Here you’ll need to kill every enemy on the map then rezone into the area. Make sure you have saved your game in the Village. Here you’ll find the area still empty of enemies except for the Cluckatrice and its three chicks.
Boss Battle: Cluckatrice
| Boss: | Cluckatrice |
| HP: | 7,509 |
| Elemental Weakness: | Earth |
| Status Effect Weakness: | Stop, Reverse, Blind, Silence, Disease, Disable, Immobilize, Sap, Libra |
| Resistances: | Wind (Absorbs) |
| Steal: | Small Feather Wind Stone Taurus Gem |
There are a number of strategies that are possible to use here. You can Disable the Cluckatrice and use that time to defeat the Chicks. You can use a Quickening Chain if you’ve already unlocked them on the License Boards to defeat the Chicks and deal a large amount of damage to the Cluckatrice if they are all clumped together. If you have enough Mote items you can cast them to deal damage to all enemies in range, DO NOT use Wind Motes, as they will heal them. Aside from those general strategies, you will need to use a Remedy on anyone who becomes Petrified, the Remedy caster will need to know Remedy Lore 2 to be able to cure the Petrify status. Outside of that, you want to try and focus on removing the chicks first, one by one, from the fight. Then focus on the Cluckatrice. Expect this to be a tough encounter, and you can always come back later with higher levels and better gear to complete it.
Rabanastre Aerodome
Return to the Village and speak to Dania to claim the reward of 1,000 Gil, an Amber Armlet, and a Rainbow Egg. Return to Montblanc for a reward as well for defeating the Mark. Once you’re ready to depart, head over to the Aerodome by Rabanastre’s Westgate. Speak to Fran outside of it, before heading in to find Balthier, right up the back. Speak to him and agree to depart once you’re ready. Choosing to depart will trigger several scenes.
Bhujerba
Exit the Aerodome in Bhujerba to trigger another scene. Lamont will join the party as a guest at this point. Be sure to adjust his Gambits, he has quite strong healing abilities so he can mostly take over that role while we have him with us. Also, change his Gambits that use items, otherwise, he will likely burn through your stockpile of them.
At the first intersection in the city, you’ll find the next Cartographer Moogle. Here you can buy maps of the city of Bhujerba as well as a map of the Lhusu Mines. Grab both before continuing on.
Before you visit the Weapon and Armor shops here, be aware that you’ll pick up a number of great weapons and armor from the Lhusu Mines while we’re there. Check out the Gambit and Magick stores to pick up any you’re missing before continuing on. Head through the city to the Save Crystal, once you are closer to the mines you’ll trigger a scene. Enter the Lhusu Mines for another scene.
Lhusu Mines
| Important Items: | Shaft Entry - Silence (if you didn't grab it in the Estersands), Bronze Mace, Osafune. Oltam Span - Topkapi Hat, Onion Bombs. Transit Way 1 - Leather Headgear, Numerology. Site 2 - Steel Gorget, Serpent Rod, Assassin's Dagger, Battle Bamboo. |
| Enemies: | Steeling, Slaven, Skull Defender, Skeleton, Aerieel (Rare Game) |
| Notable Steals: | Bronze Chestplate - Skull Defender |
Continue forward after the scenes in the dead-end to the east will be a chest containing Silence if you haven’t already collected it in the Estersands. Follow the path west, then take the south passage. There is a chance to spawn chests containing an Osafune (Katana), and a chest at the northwest corner that can contain a Bronze Mace. Continue south and then take the exit to the west, to the Oltam Span area.
Oltam Span
In this section it is possible to spawn the rare game Aerieel in the center of the bridge, you may need to rezone a couple of times to trigger it, but the fight isn’t difficult so you should take it on. Use this opportunity to also check the chest on the eastern side of the lower levels for a chance to grab a Topkapi Hat each time you rezone. Head across the bridge to the area called Transitway 1 next.
Transitway 1
Take the small path to the north, immediately as you enter, to find a chest containing the Technick Numerology. Continue on and take the north fork, checking the east wall for a chest containing Leather Headgear. Make sure you rezone a couple of times if you want a few of those for your party. Continue heading north and take the exit into the Shunia Twinspan.
Shunia Twinspan – Gil Farming
This area, the Shunia Twinspan, is great for doing some grinding if you have the time. Move into the center of the bridge to have a bunch of Skeletons spawn and attack you. Roughly 30-35 of them in total will spawn. This is an excellent chance to build up a chain of defeated enemies. Chaining works in this game by defeating the same enemy over and over again. Basically, the higher the chain gets, the better the item drops become. Defeat the skeletons here and then head back south two screens to have them reset, be careful to make sure you’re holding R2 the “escape” button down while running back two screens to reset the enemies. This ensures no one in your party will accidentally kill another enemy and break your chain. Using this method it is possible to get to 99x Bone Shards from the Skeleton drops very quickly, head outside the Lhusu Mines to the Seeq Vendor, and sell all of the drops. You will primarily be selling the Bone Shards and Dark Stones dropped from the skeletons, you can also sell any spare Iron Helms you acquire from them for a tidy profit as well. Each trip out here to sell off your inventory should net you over 20,000 Gil for your trouble. Use this area to farm the required money to purchase all of the Grimoires from the Bazaar. We unlocked these earlier while we were in Rabanastre, you’ll also gain a fair few levels for your trouble as well. Once you have all the Grimoires purchased and you’re sick of farming, exit to the next area to the north called Site 2.
Site 2
This area has some great treasures, but none of them will be available to acquire after the Boss fight here, so we need to be careful not to trigger it until we have the items we need. When you first enter, take the northern branch for a chance to find a chest in the dead-end containing a Serpent Rod, back in the area with the train tracks at the eastern end you can find a chest with a Steel Gorget. Take the south passage and follow this linear path, take the stairs up, and to the east is a small room that can contain up to three chests. The easternmost of these chests has a chance to contain the Assassin’s Dagger, a very powerful early game weapon for anyone that can equip it. If you progress beyond this room you will not be able to respawn these chests. So if you haven’t got the three we’ve highlighted so far, return to the Shunia Twinspan and then reenter to respawn the chests and try to get the gear. Grab what you want and then head north to trigger the next scene. If you are high enough level, fighting these guys should be no issue, if you’d prefer not to then just hold down the R2 button and flee back to the entrance of the Lhusu Mines. You’ll trigger a bunch of scenes along the way.
Once you exit the mines you’ll trigger another scene, where Lamont’s real identity will be revealed. Another scene will trigger up at the Save Crystal just outside the Mines.
“I’m Captain Basch”
You’ll trigger a mini-game at this point, where Vaan needs to run around town yelling at people. Try to aim for areas with groups of people all standing together. You’ll want to target the group of people outside the Gambit store head west and south from there, yelling at people as you go, then head northeast and into the small area called Kaff Terrace. By the time you’ve covered those, you should have pretty well completed the mini-game. Anyone holding a book will give you a large boost to your score as well, so keep your eyes open. Reaching 100% will trigger a couple of scenes.
The Cloudborne Tavern Hunts
Once you regain control of Vaan you’ll be inside the Cloudborne Tavern, where there is a new Bounty Board for us to inspect. Here you can accept the Nidhogg Hunt. We can also now initiate another hunt we accepted previously as well, the Rocktoise. You’ll need to head over and speak to Pilika the Moogle to accept the Rocktoise Hunt. Exit the Tavern and go west into Travica Way, then west again into the Khus Skygrounds. Here you’ll find Pilika the Moogle, speak to her to accept the Rocktoise Hunt.
Be sure to stock up on any missing Magick’s, Armor, or Weapons while you’re in town. These Marks can be a tough fight. Head back to the Save Crystal by the entrance to the Mines and find the man called Aekom to accept the Nidhogg Hunt as well. Both can be found in the Lhusu Mines.
Nidhogg Hunt
Follow the path in the Mines back to Transitway 1 to find Nidhogg waiting in the center of the area.
Boss Battle: Nidhogg
| Boss: | Nidhogg |
| HP: | 6,079 |
| Elemental Weakness: | Fire |
| Status Effect Weakness: | Stop, Confuse, Reverse, Sleep, Blind, Silence, Disease, Immobilize, Slow, Berserk, Libra. |
| Resistances: | Water (Absorbs) |
| Steal: | Antidote Tanned Hide Aries Gem |
For this fight make sure your front-line fighter has a shield to help their survivability. You’re going to need to adjust your healing gambits to keep your party at high health, Nidhogg has a tendency to inflict massive combos that will quickly reduce the HP of whoever it is targeting. If you are using Fran you want her either casting Cure on your team or casting Fire on Nidhogg, she should do almost nothing else in this fight. As Nidhogg’s HP drops his damage will increase, especially after he passes the 30% remaining HP threshold. At this point, you need to wrap up the fight quickly or he can wipe your entire party. It may even be worthwhile setting a Gambit to use Hi-Potions when a character gets below 70%, otherwise, your party may be stuck casting cure all day and not dealing damage. If you do wipe, then consider farming up in the Shunia Twinspan for a few levels and trying again. Also, make sure you’ve bought all the Grimoires and upgraded all your equipment. For beating Nidhogg you’ll be awarded 600 Gil, a Rose Corsage, and a Balaclava.
Rocktoise Hunt
Head back out of the mines and save first if the fight with Nidhogg was a close one. You don’t want to have to do it again. While out at the Save Crystal we can also turn in the Mark to Aekom, who will give us a Great Serpentskin. This is needed for a later quest, so try and hang onto it if you can.
For the next hunt, we need to head back into the Lhusu Mines to where we were ambushed by Bounty Hunters, Site 2. Here is where you’ll find the Rocktoise.
Boss Battle: Rocktoise
| Boss: | Rocktoise |
| HP: | 17,548 |
| Elemental Weakness: | Wind |
| Status Effect Weakness: | Stop, Sleep, Blind, Silence, Disease, Immobilize, Slow, Libra. |
| Resistances: | Earth (Absorbs) |
| Steal: | Potion Turtle Shell Aged Turtle Shell |
First off, Skeleton’s can spawn in the same area as Rocktoise, so take care of them first. You’ll want your tank to be equipped with the best shield you can afford as well. Same as with Nidhogg, the Rocktoise can really output some damage. Make sure to set a Gambit to use Hi-Potions again, if someone drops below 50% health for example, without this you may not be able to keep up with the healing through Cure alone. For taking Rocktoise down you’ll earn 1200 Gil, two Hi-Potions, and a Survival Vest.
Head back to Pilika the Moogle to turn in the Hunt and speak to her again to take on another quest. Tell her you’ll help and she’ll give you an Armband to allow you access to the back of the Technick’s Shop. Head over to the shop and go inside, go up to the second level, and on the bookshelf, you’ll be able to grab Pilika’s Diary. Pick it up and then return to Pilika, hand it over to her, if you say you read it she will give you a Bangle accessory, if you say you didn’t, she’ll give you a Jade Collar.
With that all tied up, head to the map marker on the northside of the city to continue the story. Tell the guard you’re ready to see the Marquis and this will trigger a few scenes. When we next regain control of Vaan we’ll be on board the Dreadnought Leviathan.
Dreadnought Leviathan
Walkthrough for the Dreadnought Leviathan, Ogir-Yensa Sandsea, and the Nam-Yensa Sandsea. By the end of this section, you’ll finally have all party members unlocked.
Hunts covered: Wyvern Lord
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